London: British Formula One racer Jenson Button has warned Lewis Hamilton that he will defeat the latter next year as well.

The McLaren racer is set to become the first team-mate to defeat Hamilton in his five-season F1 career. But Button reckons he will be even stronger next season as he gets the team right behind him, The Sun reports.

"It``s a lesson I learned many years ago. If you look back at F1 there are certain drivers that would always try and build a team around them and it helped them. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost did that, but I suppose Michael Schumacher was the first one of our generation to really do that,” he said.

"It was not something I thought about myself when I was younger. But it``s one thing I remember about David Richards when he was Team Principal at BAR. He said ``Jenson, you have very good speed, but other drivers out there do a much better job of surrounding themselves with the right people and really working at it with the team``. That definitely did stick with me," Button added.

Hamilton admits he was in a unique situation at McLaren, having been with them since he was 13. But there is a growing sense the team are turning more towards Button, who has signed a new contract with the Woking outfit while Hamilton``s runs out next year.